Oh Dear! (Abby)

Dear Abby:

Mother’s Day is coming up and I want to take my mother out for a nice lunch. Only I have to decide: Melissa was the one who gave birth to me in the hospital 24 years ago, and she nursed me (though I don’t remember any of this). My other mom, Sally, the woman with whom my mother lived and also who took care of me; in fact, she was the one who drove me to my first day of school and was home much more often than Melissa, who made lots of money but had to work downtown at a law firm to do it. Now Melissa and Sally aren’t speaking to each other anymore; and I can’t mention the name of one in the presence of the other. The last time I mentioned Melissa to Sally, I was told that Sally gave the egg that turned into me, so I was really Sally’s son, not Melissa’s. I asked Melissa about this, and she told me it was all true, but that Sally didn’t really do very much and that she …